Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 02, 2002
Three Palestinian Militants Killed in Nablus
Three Palestinian residents of the West Bank town of Nablus were killed early Friday by the Israeli troops' gunfire during a wide operation in the town, Palestinian witnesses and medical sources said.
Three Palestinian residents of the West Bank town of Nablus were killed early Friday by the Israeli troops' gunfire during a wide operation in the town, Palestinian witnesses and medical sources said.
Witnesses said that more than 60 Israeli army tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers supported by attack helicopters entered into the town from four different directions. The town has been under curfew for 44 days.
They said that the tanks headed immediately to the old town of Nablus, an overcrowded area with narrow alleys inaccessible for the army's tanks and vehicles.
Medical Palestinian sources said that during the raid on the old part of the town of Nablus, two Palestinians were killed and five others wounded, two of them are in moderate conditions.
Israeli Radio reported that the attack on the town is targeting the houses of several Palestinian suicide bombers. These people were accused of carrying out armed attacks against Israel during the Palestinian Intifada or uprising that began 22 months ago.
Meanwhile, Palestinian witnesses at the village of Salims east of the town of Nablus said that a special Israeli army unit disguising as Arabs shot dead a Palestinian militant, member of Islamic Hamas movement armed wing.
They said that the Israeli forces which entered the village early on Friday, raided several houses and took some residents hostage to force the militant to turn himself up.
The residents said that when the Hamas militant refused to surrender, they opened fire and killed him.
Raiding Nablus and the villages around came following a series of armed attacks against Israel during this week. At least 14 Israelis were killed in different attacks at Jewish settlements and in Jerusalem.